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5-Whys Facilitator writes group’s issue or problem on board. Facilitator: “What causes this problem?” or “Why does this problem exist?” or … Team members give a reason. Facilitator: “Then what causes that problem?” or “Then why does that problem exist?” Keep working down to underlying problem or until reason is beyond control of group.

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5-Whys Example ↑↓ Very simple. Easy to facilitate. May only expose one root cause. Easy to get diverted to a symptom. Make sure you get down to root cause. (If reason is outside control or influence, good point to stop.) (Interesting ideas or symptom solutions can be stored in “parking lot” for possible later use.)

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Five Whys – Useful questions What could be causing that? What underlying skills might he/she be missing? What has kept the typical interventions from working? What is interfering with… ? What is a cause that we can influence or change in school? Why are we continuing to use this strategy? What else could be causing or influencing this problem? Do you think “x,” “y,” or “z” could be the cause? Why is “X” stopping him/her from learning? Why do you think he/she is or continues doing that? What could be the motivation for doing that? What do you think is happening that keeps him/her from solving this problem? http://www.ohioschoolleaders.org/moveAhead/UsingData/docs/Five%20Reasons%20Deep-%20Questions%20You%20May%20Find%20Helpful.pdf

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Why a fishbone? ↑↓ Still fairly simple. Provides pathways to more than one potential root cause. Categories can sometimes be restrictive – or you may waste time arguing about which category. Perceived need to find something in every category sometimes limits ability to dive down to root cause level.

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↑↓ Still simple. Easy to get folks to do. Provides pathways to more than one potential root cause. Categories no longer restrictive. Tree structure is very easy to see and work with. No categories, so facilitator may need to stretch people’s thoughts.